Energetic: the board game

Students at Hunter College High School in Manhattan work together to build a zero carbon energy grid for NYC by 2035. Photo by Ross Pinkerton

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We designed a board game about the future of New York City. This gives everyone the chance to see the scope of change and cooperation needed to transform the city’s energy demand and supply in time to meet goals for the Paris Agreement. Energetic is used at schools including:

To order a set

 

We turned the future of New York City into a board game

 

Students in South Carolina race to build a zero carbon NYC

Thanks to NYC teachers: Matthew Sarker, Bronx Science; Rachel Wax, Eleanor Roosevelt HS; Adam Zaid, Queens School of Inquiry; Aida Rosenbaum, Bronx Latin; Deborah Reich, World View HS; Andrew Wells, NEST+m; Ross Pinkerton, Hunter College HS; and to Kristy Nguyen, W!se Institute
Credits: The development of Energetic is a group effort by the City Atlas teams of 2018/2019, and built on work by prior years of City Atlas researchers. Program Manager: Yuchen Liu. Game mechanics by Truly Johnson and Connor Haseley and City Atlas team, board and piece design by Isil Akgul, card design by Janet Tam, editing by Archie Kinnane, project coordination by Ashley Brown, trainers and V.2.0 team: Archie Kinnane and TM, creative director for City Atlas, Richard Reiss, team beta testers: Erik Berg, Bridget Scanlon, Luke McGinty. Energetic was made possible with logistical support from Douglas Price, Peter Marcotullio, and our partner The Institute for Sustainable Cities at Hunter College. Many thanks to Jesse Jenkins and Eric Hittinger for giving us notes on the prototype. Inspiration, David JC MacKay, FRS and Greta Thunberg.